Shattered |Leo Valdez|

Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Leo's P.o.v.

"Rikki!" I screamed as I watched her body sail out of the window. My heart was in my throat as I grasped the window ledge to stare down at the sidewalk below. "She's gone!" Terror gripped at me and I didn't know what I was going to do. How could you find someone who jumped out of a window and disappeared? More importantly, how could you protect that person when she wasn't there?

Before we'd left, Chiron had pulled me aside and stared at me as if he would never see me again. "Rikki. Don't let her die. Whether you succeed or fail on this quest, just bring her back in one piece." Why he'd cared so much about her safety, I wasn't sure. There were three other people going on the quest, yet he only mentioned her safety.

"Leo! Is she dead? Where did she go?" Anna yelled, racing to the window to see for herself.

Nico grabbed his own hair and pulled, his fingers tangled in the black strands. "I told you not to hurt her! What do you think this is? A walk through lollipop lane?" The son of Hades kicked the bed and took a deep breath. "I'm going to talk to people outside and see what they saw. Anna, come with me. You," Nico says with a glare at me, "get dressed and prepare to explain yourself and that flight attendant. You have two minutes."

I ran my hands over my face and groaned. Marlee wasn't suppose to be here, none of this was supposed to happen, and Rikki was supposed to still be in here with me-us. With us. Marlee had been walking around crying because she was going miss her flight or lose her job, and I brought her into the room so she could calm down. The shower was going because I'd been about to take one, but she had to pee so she went in. After she came out, I went in with her at my heels because she forgot her phone behind the toilet. Somehow she had tripped and fell into the shower. With her clothes (could you call them clothes? They barely covered anything.) soaked, I lent her a shirt and pants and gave her a towel. Then I took my own shower. I didn't understand why everyone immediately assumed I did something bad.

Especially Rikki.

The hurt that had been in her eyes was a lot more difficult for me to bare than I'd ever thought a look could be. It had been filled to the brim with accusations and betrayal. If only she'd waited and gotten the whole story, then we could have been enjoying ice cream or something rather than having me sit and worry about her klutzy self all alone and disappeared.

I changed quickly and went downstairs to go find Nico and Anna. Both were right outside the main door talking to strangers. "Did you see a girl fall out of a window? She probably flew or grew wings or something." Nico said to some bald guy who gave his hair an envious look before walking away muttering about how crazy people always get the good hair.

"I SAID HER NAME IS RIKKI AND SHE IS A WEIRD GIRL THAT YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY BE ABLE TO REMEMBER!" Anna screamed into an elderly woman's ear, not realizing that the hearing aid was off. She was right, though. Rikki was definitely someone you'd remember, because she was pretty hard to forget about.

Nico ran up to another guy and said the exact same thing as before, except this time the guy started talking in a different language. It might have been French, but nico opened his mouth in shock. "Not cool bro!" From what I could tell, the guy hadn't been mean at all. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Nico snapped his fingers and walked away.

What the heck?

Rikki was gone and now the two of them were acting like complete lunatics. Wa I the only adult here? Wow. That was ironic. Nico suddenly caught sight of me and whipped around. "Anna! Get over here! Story time." Anna skipped over to where we stood before grabbing both of our hands and pulling us until we were under a tree. "Now spill, Valdez."